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RE-DEDICATION 



OLD STATE HOUSE, 



BOSTON. 



JULY llTH, 1882. 




Boston: 

PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE CITY COUNCIL. 

1H82 . 




n5 



<'^« 



THE 



EE-DEDICATION OF THE OLD STATE HOUSE. 



The five-years' lease of the Old State House expired July 
1, 1881. In anticipation of that event it was suggested that 
the historic interest of the building was so great that it might 
be desirable to retain the control of, at least, the upper part 
floor of the building for public uses, and to restore the whole 
edifice to the appearance it wore a century ago. The City 
Council, after considerable discussion, voted to appropriate 
the sum of thirty-five thousand dollars for rejiairs on the 
])uilding, putting the charge, as usual, in the hands of the 
Committee on Public Buildings, of which Alderman ^Yilliam 
Woolley was chairman in 1881 and 1882. 

The work proved greater than was anticipated ; but on 
June 29, 1882, the committee was able to announce the sub- 
stantial completion of their labors (see City Doc. 100), and 
to invite the City Council to attend at the formal transfer of 
the building to His Honor the ^Mayor, on Tuesday, July 11. 
Accordingly, on the forenoon of that day, the following pro- 
ceedings took place, which are now pul)lished liy order of 
the City Council. 

The ceremonies were held in the East Hall, occupied in 
colonial times by the Governor and Council, afterwards by 



4: OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 

the State Senate, and from 1830 to 1840 by the Board of 
Aldermen. Portraits of the old governors, Winthrop, 
Endicott, Bellingham, and Bnrnet, were kindly loaned for 
the occasion, by direction of Hon. Robert R. Bishop, Presi- 
dent of the Senate. The Massachusetts Historical Society 
loaned portraits of Governors Belcher, Joseph Dudley, and 
Hutchinson. The Public Library contributed a caricature 
of Governor Gage, and engravings of Governors Pownall 
and Andros also hung upon the walls. 

In the West Hall, formerly occupiied by the House of 
Representatives, and later by the Common Council, were the 
superb portraits of Samuel Adams and John Hancock, 
owned by the city, and Stuart's portrait of Josiah Quincy, 
Jr., the patriot. Other interesting pictures and engravings 
adorned the various rooms. The orator of the day delivered 
his address from the Speaker's desk used in the old House of 
Representatives, and now owned by the Massachusetts His- 
torical Society. 

Owing to the unavoidable absence of Alderman Woolley, 
chairman of the committee, the assemblage was called to 
order by Alderman Hersey, who spoke as follows : — 

Mr. Mayor, Oe7itlemen of the City Council, Ladies 
and Grentleinen: — 

You are assembled here to-day to receive the 
report of the committee to whom was assigned the 
duty of renovating and restoring the Old State 
House. The work is completed, of which you have 



OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. o 

the evidence before you, and I am happy to say it 
has been done within the estimates and appropria- 
tion. 

The work of restoration has not been accom- 
plished excejJt by much expenditure of time and 
thought iu delving among old documents for evi- 
dences of what the building was in its early days; 
and it presents to-day, both as its to exterior 
and interior, substantially the same appearance that 
it did in those early days of its history when the 
noble men, whose portraits look down upon us here, 
walked these streets, and to the gathered 'citizens 
within these historic walls spoke the patriotic words 
of counsel that incited them to deeds of noble daring 
in defence of national liberty, and made this country 
a free republic. 

It would seem proper that in dedicating this build- 
ing to purposes akin to those for which it was 
originally designed, we should seek the Divine favor. 
I therefore will request the Rev. Dr. Rufus Ellis, 
pastor of the First Church, to ask a blessing. It 
Avould seem appropriate and fitting that he, the pas- 
tor of the church which in its early days was locate^ 
in this immediate vicinity, should thus officiate. You 
will please give your attention while the Rev. Dr. 
Ellis asks a blessing. 



b . OLD STATE HOUSE KE-DEDICATION. 

PRAYER BY RUEUS ELLIS, D.D. 

O God of our fathers, our dwelling-place in all 
generations, we thank Thee for our goodly heritage. 
]N^ot without Thee would we come together. Obedi- 
ent to Thy voice do we remember the days of old. 
It is our desire and prayer that by these renewals and 
restorations we may so strengthen the things that 
remain, and so bind together our best and most 
precious hopes, and our dearest memories, that we 
shall grow thereby in all sweet humanities, and our 
city be, indeed, as a city set upon a hill whose light 
cannot be hid, whose light shall shine in praise and 
works that are just and merciful. 

We pray Thee that this ancient house may be for- 
ever a common possession, a common joy, and a 
common pride of all those whose homes and places 
of daily toil are centred about it, and may it be a 
memorial to them that they are citizens of no mean 
city. So may the Lord keep the cit}^; so may its 
walls be salvation and its gates praise; and so for the 
abundance of righteousness and love within its bor- 
ders may all the walls that are builded by human 
hands be consecrated, and may this be to us at last, 
in the brighter and better and holier days, that city 
of our God, of which it is written, I saw no temple 
therein: and for the light that shines upon all and 



OLD STATE HOUSE JiE-DEDICATION. 7 

upon the house may there be nothing* uncommon or 
unclean. 

We pray this prayer unto Thee in His name who 
bids us render unto Ca?sar the things which are 
Caesar's and unto God the things which are God's, 
and, in the words which He hath taught us, may we 
"with one heart and one voice say unto Thee: Our 
Father which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. 
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it 
is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and 
forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those that 
trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation ; 
but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, 
and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. 
Amen. 

Alderman Hersey. — Ladies and gentlemen, 
perhaps to one member of the city government 
more than all others is due the credit of whatever 
success has attended the restoration of this building. 
I allude to that member whose duty and pleasure it 
will be to address you on this occasion. It gives 
me great pleasure to introduce to you William 
H. Whitmoke, member of the Common Council 
from Ward 12. 



OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 9 



ADDEESS OF WILLIAM H. WHITMOEE. ESQ. 

Felloio-memhers of the City Council : — 

AYe are gathered here to-day to re-dedicate a build- 
ing already hallowed by the patriotic contests of 
previous generations. We are to strengthen a link 
in that chain of our history which connects those who 
resisted the despotism of the Stuarts with those who 
rebelled against the misgovernment of the mother 
country, and again with those who so lately fought 
for the preservation of the unity of the nation. We 
are to remember that we are henceforth the custo- 
dians not only of Faneuil Hall and the Old South, so 
universally known at the present day, but also of 
that older and still more revered spot, which, after a 
temporary neglect and decay, is now to stand pre- 
eminent among all the buildings in the land. 

I Avill endeavor to set forth, within a reasonable 
compass, the claims of the Old State House to be the 
spot most inthnately associated with the history of 
liberty in this Commonwealth, and the right of the 
present building to assume to be, not the representa- 
tive of dejDarted glories, but their actual and existing 
monument, — never obliterated, never changed in any 



10 OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 

essential degree, — as fit to-day as it was a century 
ago to be the glorious theatre of unmortal events. 

When our forefathers estabUshed this town they 
found that l^ature had apparently marked this spot 
for a centre of the new settlement. A little projec- 
tion, of which our State street is the ridge, divided 
the coves lying north and south. The land reached 
then as far as Kilby street on the one side, and 
Merchants' Row on the other. On the north the 
Town Dock, now covered by Quincy Market and 
even l)y streets farther inland, reached to the slopes 
of Copp's Hill. On the south • a cove, occupying 
Liberty square and its vicinity, severed Fort Hill 
from approach, except on the line of Franklin street. 
Directly in the range of this point the lofty height 
of Beacon Hill towered above the narrow plain, 
through which Washington street and Court street 
were to be stretched. Along the banks of these 
coves, and in the low lands between the three hills of 
Trimont, the houses of the little settlement were soon 
closely clustered. 

Here, on the site since occupied by Brazier's build- 
ing, was placed tlie first meeting-house, wherein 
from the beginning the townsmen met to consult 
also upon temporal aifairs. 

In front of the meeting-house was a lot set apart 
for a market-place as early as 1634, and definitely 



OLD STATE HOUSE HE-DEDICATION. H 

recognized as such in the Book of Possessions in 
164:5. It was, as it iioav is, the land enclosed by the 
two arms of the street, and its dimensions have never 
been lessened. On the southerly side of State street 
Capt. Robert Keayne lived, on the corner of our 
Washington street, with two neighbors between him 
and the meeting-house, while Elder Leverett and 
two others owned the remaining lots. On the north 
side of State street John Cogan had built the first 
shop in Boston, on the corner of Washington street ; 
and doAvn the street were the lots of Rev. John 
Wilson and seven others. Opposite, on AVashington 
street, John Leverett lived on the corner, with Rich- 
ard Parker south and west. 

Such were the first surroundings of this site, until, 
in 1640, the meeting-house, " being decayed and too 
small," was sold, and a new one was built on the site 
since occupied by Joy's Building. In the meeting- 
house "the general and great quarter courts are 
kept," wrote Lechford in 1640. That is to say, our 
incipient Legislature and primitive courts of law 
were there held; as, of necessity, must have been con- 
vened all town meetings. At that time there were 
about two hundred and fifty householders in Boston, 
representing a population of some fifteen hundred 
persons. 

For more than a quarter of a century from the set- 



12 OLD STATE HOUSE EE-DEDICATION. 

tlement of the town this provision was sufficient. 
But in 1656 Capt. Keayne died, and his will proved 
that for years he had been devising benefits for his 
fellow-townsmen. Keayne was one of the founders 
of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company. 
His controversy, in 1642, with Mrs. Sherman, about a 
stray pig, had brought the two houses of the 
magistrates and deputies to such disputes that they 
had resolved to sit in different chambers.' He was 
a merchant, and had been severely disciplined by 
the church for trying to make a profit on his vent- 
ures beyond the amount which the clergy thought 
proper.' We need not suspect Capt. Keayne of 
extortion, for theologians of that date had hardly 
escaped from the belief that all interest was usury 
and all profit a breach of Christian charity. Our 
merchant, however, submitted to discipline, and was 
restored to popular favor, being elected to the Legis- 
lature, and otherwise employed by the town. For 
three years before his death he had been writing 
with his own hand that enormous will of one hun- 
dred and fifty-eight folio pages, now preserved on 
our probate records, by which he disposed of 
soijie four thousand pounds, — an enormous fortune 
in those days. Writing laboriously and care- 
fully, evidently desiring that his money should 

'Winthrop, ii., 160. ^Winthrop, i., 315. 



OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 13 

be A\isely expended, Keayne j^lanned various ways 
of aiding his fellow-townsmen. One-half of his 
estate went to his son, the other to public uses. 
Three hundred pounds was for the Town-house ; one 
hundred for the granary ; fifty to the free school ; fifty 
to the poor of his church; one hundred to Harvard 
College; somewhat to the Artillery Company; many 
legacies to relatives, friends, and servants, — a 
whimsical, generous, pathetic will, full of a desire to 
do good according to the best of his light. 

But the town of Boston was to receive one gift 
which would endure even to this day. Three hun- 
dred pounds were to be laid out in building a conduit 
and a market-place, " with some convenient room or 
two for the Courts to meet in both in summer and 
winter, and so for the Townsmen and Commissioners 
in the same building or the like, and a convenient 
room for a library, and a gallery, or some other hand- 
some room for the elders to meet in; also a room for 
an armory." There was to be a room for merchants, 
masters of ships, and strangers, as well as townsfolk. 
All this, with much repetition and amendment, is set 
forth in the will ; and the main part endured. 

In February, 1656-7, the Selectmen began to take 
action respecting the legacy, and at the town-meet- 
ing in March, 1657, " Capt [Thomas] Savage, Mr 
[Anthony] Stoddard, Mr [Jeremy] Houchin and 



14 OLD STATE HOUSE EE-DEDICATION 

Mr Ed [ward] Hutchinson" were chosen a committee 
" to consider of the modell of the towne house to bee 
built, as concerning- the charge thereof, and the most 
convenient place; as also to take the subscriptions 
of the inhabitants to propagate such a building; and 
seasonably to make report to a publick townes 
meeting." Keayne had suggested Mr. [Thomas] 
Broughton and Mr. [John] Clarke, the chirurgeon, 
as good persons to devise a plan; but these others 
were trusted citizens. 

Exactly when the first Town-house was completed 
and occupied does not appear by the records. 

May 19, 1658, the General Court passed the fol- 
lowing order (Rec, iv., p. 327) : — 

'' In answer to the reqnest of the Select men of Boston, the conrt 
judge th it meet to allow unto Boston, for and towards the charges 
of their town house, Boston's proportion of one single country rate 
for this year ensuing, provided that sufficient rooms in the said 
house shall be forever free, for the keeping of all Courts, and also 
that the place underneath shall be free for all inhabitants in this 
jurisdiction to make use of as a market for ever, without pa3auent 
of an}" toll or tribute whatsoever." 

The Selectmen of Boston voted March 28, 1659, 
that no one should smoke or bring a fire or match 
under or about the Town-house except in case of 
military exercise; so that the building was probably 
then ready. 



OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEBTCATION. 15 

Feb. 28, 1660-61, a settlement was ordered with 
Thomas Joy and partner " for the building of the 
towne-house stayre cases and Conduit " by paying 
therefor six hundred and eight}^ pounds, deducting 
what had been paid. 

Oct. 9, 1667, the Legislature ordered " the neces- 
sary full and suitable repair of the Town and Court 
House in ^o^tow, founded hy the late Captain Robert 
Keayne^'' one-half of the expense to be paid by the 
country, one-quarter by the county of Suffolk, one- 
quarter by the town of Boston. May 31, 1671, they 
ordered on the same terms, " by a firm whole wall to 
the bottom of the braces, with brick or stone to re- 
pair the Court or Town House, so that all inconven- 
iences by rotting the timbers &c. l3e prevented." 

The form of this first Town-house is, of course, a 
matter of conjecture. Josselyn, who was here in 
1663, says, in his account printed three years later, 
that there is in Boston '■ a Town House built upon 
pillars, where the Merchants may confer; in the 
Chambers above, they keep thei rmonthly Courts." 

John Dunton, in 1686, merely repeats the same 
words. From items in the town records it seems 
that Richard Taylor hired the slrop under the stairs 
at the west end of the Town-house in 1661, and in 
1669 he obtained an extension of his term for sixty- 
one years. In 1666 Robert (Til)bs ()l)taiucd a lease 



16 OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 

of the cellar under the Town-house; and in 1664 
Thomas Lake and Hezekiah Usher seem to have 
been in possession of the east end of the cellar. In 
1678 Samuel Shrimpton bought out Lake's interest 
from his widow, and obtained an extension of the 
lease for thirty-nine years. 

We may therefore safely assume that the building 
was raised on f)illars, with a flight of steps at each 
end, the lower floor partly partitioned off for shops, 
leaving a large space for the daily exchange. As 
early as 1664 a bell was ordered to be rung at 
eleven o'clock every working day, to give notice of 
the assembling there for one hour of merchants, 
strangers, and inhabitants. In 1683 it was voted 
" that a note set up under the Town House upon one 
of the pillars, concerning the price of wheat, shall be 
sufficient notice to the bakers to size their bread by, 
according to law." 

Upstairs there would be, of necessity, two rooms, 
one for the Governor and Council, the other for the 
Representatives. Naturally there would be also some 
anterooms ; and we cannot doubt that even the first 
building covered about all the ground m the present 
lot. In fact, the French map by Franquelin, made in 
1693, shows the space occupied by the Town-house 
to be as large as the present ground. 

Sewall records (Diary, i., 458), that on September 



OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 17 

8, 1697, " the Governour and Council first meet in the 
Council Chamber, as it is now fitted with ceihng, 
Glazing, Painting, new Floor that brings it to a 
Level ; 'New Hearth even with it." This meeting was 
made noteworthy by the announcement by Col. 
Pierce that limestone had been discovered at JN^ew- 
bury, — a matter of the highest importance, as, up to 
that time, the colonists had been obliged to burn 
oyster-shells fi)r lime. 

The other portions of Keayne's plans did not prove 
so permanent. In 1681 and in 1695 mention is made 
of the Town's Library; but it was perhaps lost in 
the fire, 1711. As to his conduit we know that it 
failed in some twelve years. 

It was doubtless to be constructed in unitation of 
the structures then common in England. "^ They 
are a kind of stone cage or cap, under cover of 
which the conduit pipe rises to the top and then lets 
down its stream; sometimes openly (the cap being 
a cage), sometimes unseen, to a reservoir near the 
bottom."' The waste- water was allowed to esca^oe 
by paved gutters, or otherwise to seek the earth. 
Doubtless Captain Keayne expected to utilize the 
springs near his house as a supply of water for daily 
use, and "especially in case of fire." But such open 

' Prof. William Everett has kindly furnished the above description from 
his observation. 



18 OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 

streams were imsnited to this climate ; and that feat- 
ure of English towns could not be imitated here. 
In March, 1672, it was voted that, as the work " by the 
Providence of God hath not proved so useful as was 
expected and desired," by an agreement with the 
overseers of Keayne's will^ " liberty was given to 
IsTicholas Page to take away the bricks belonging 
to the conduit, and to fill the place even with the 
ground." 

The first building stood from 1658 to 1711, when 
it was burned in a terrible conflagration. In it pre- 
sided Governors Endicott, Bellingham, Leverett, and 
Bradstreet, under the old charter; Andros, under the 
orders of King James ; and Phijjs, Stoughton, Bello- 
mont, and Joseph Dudley under the new charter. 
Through many perils — from Indian foes, from 
English tyranny, and from domestic treachery — the 
settlement steadily increased in population and 
wealth during these fifty-three years. It is estimated 
by Shattuck that the population of Boston was, in 
A.D. 1680, four thousand five hundred persons; in 
A.D. 1690, seven thousand persons; in A.D. 1700, 
six thousand seven hundred persons ; in A.D. 1710, 
nine thousand persons. 

At one time, indeed, in 1689, this ToAvn-house was 
the centre of a revolution. In April of that year 
the colonists, inspired by the news that William of 



OLD STATE HOUSE liE-DEDICATION. 19 

Orange had landed in England, took the desperate 
resolve to rebel agamst King James and his gov- 
ernor here. It was a rash venture; bnt it succeeded. 
Within the previous year Andros, a veteran soldier 
of large experience, had constructed on the neighbor- 
ing height a fortification, which gave its name to 
Fort Hill. He had royal troops under his command, 
and a man-of-Avar was anchored off the shore. But 
the lead'ers of the people assembled at the Town- 
house in Boston, supported by the bold and resolute 
freemen of the colony, and in a single day the royal 
authority was overthrown. It should be forever 
remembered that, although a like success in England 
at the same time secured the immunity of these Bos- 
tonians, still the actors were then ignorant of that 
event, and for at least a month they were open and 
avowed rebels, ^ov can it be doubted that the 
whole course of our history was immensely influ- 
enced by the fact that, when William and Mary 
ascended the throne, they found the colony of Massa- 
chusetts so far distinguished from other colonies as 
to have fought independently for its rights. This 
old Towai-house was the first shrine of liberty; and 
every subsequent act can be clearly shown to be the 
natural and logical consequence of that first uprising 
of a free people. 

As the centre of the town, this old hall must have 



20 OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 

witnessed many stirring scenes. Thns we find it 
recorded that on May 14, 1692, Sir William Phips 
arrived, the first governor nnder the Second or Pro- 
vincial Charter. Sewall writes (Diary, i., 360), " Sir 
William arrives in the JSTonsuch Frigat: Candles are 
lighted before he gets into Town-house. Eight 
Companies wait on Him to his house, and then on 
Mr. Mather to his. Made no volleys because 'twas 
Satterday night." " Monday May 16. Eight Com- 
panies and two from Charlestown guard Sir William 
and his Councillors to the Town-house where the 
Commissions are read and Oaths taken." Boston, at 
this date, had not far from one thousand houses and 
seven thousand inhabitants (Palfrey, iv., 136) ; but at 
the election of a representative in May, 1698, when 
there was a spirited contest, only three hundred and 
eighteen votes were cast. (Sewall, i., 480.) 

Phijjs's administration lasted only two years and a 
half, and is forever darkened by the shadow of the 
witchcraft delusion and its judicial murders. 

Happily for us, none of the sentences were pro- 
nounced in Boston; though at the last court held 
here one Mary Watkins, a servant, despite the 
verdict of the jury, was imprisoned by order of the 
Court, and sold into bondage in Virginia. (Drake, 
Hist., 503). Hutchinson (Hist., ii., 61) relates that 
Dame Mary Phips, the governor's wife, was ap- 



OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 21 

plied to in behalf of a woman held for trial for 
witchcraft. 

" Tlie good lady, j^^'^^P^^^^ virtute, granted and 
signed a warrant for the woman's discharge, which 
was obeyed by the keeper, and the woman lives still 
for anght I Iniow." It is fair to conclnde that the 
docnment was in the nsnal form, and was taken 
from the official papers in the governor's chamber. 
AVe may safely infer that in this building the first 
female governor exercised her rights, and we may 
rejoice that the usurpation was for the glorious pre- 
rogative of pardon. 

Fi'om November, 1694, to June, 1702, the govern- 
ment was mainly in the hands of Lieut. Governor 
Stoughton, though for a year the Earl of Bellomont 
was the nominal governor. Just before the arrival 
of Bellomont news was received of the rejection 
of several of our laws by the home government. 
Sewall (i., 496) thus describes the scene : " Drum is 
beat and Allowance and Disallowance of the Acts is 
published. Lieutenant Governor [Stoughton] and 
Council standing in the Gallery. Great many 
Auditors below." 

Another day of excitement in the old building 
must have been that one in July, 1699, when Captain 
"William Kidd was examined by Lord Bellomont and 
his Council, charged Avith many notorious piracies. 



22 OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 

Kesearch, which destroys so many ilhisions, shows 
us that the noted pn-ate was far from being so 
wicked or so bloodthirsty as fame reported, and 
certainly reveals a strong infusion of poltroonery in 
his character. The muse, however, promptly re- 
corded of him, — 

" My name was William Kidd, 

As I sailed, as I sailed, 
And onost wickedly I did, 
As I sailed." 

As an evidence of the various uses to which the 
building was put, we find that in 1701, " because of 
the Kain and Mist," the election of captain of the 
Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company was held 
in the ToAvn-house, when the choice fell upon Judge 
Sewall. They call'd down the Council out of the 
Chamber and set their chairs below: Col. Pynchon 

gave the Staves and Ensign Drew 

out before Mr. Usher's, gave three volleys; drew 
into the Town-House again." Then Rev. Mr. Pem- 
berton prayed, and the company escorted their 
conunander safely home. So again in 1702, " rainy 
day, we exercise on the Town-house in the Morn." 

On May 28, 1702, news arrived at Boston of the 
death of King William. 

" And at last the Gazette containing the Proclaim- 
ing of the Queen came to hand. Then we resolved 



OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 23 

to proclaim her Majesty here. Keghnent drawn up, 
and Life-Guard of Horse ; Council, Representatives, 
Ministers, Justices, Gentlemen, taken within the 
Guard. Mr. Secretary, on foot, read the order of 
the Council, the Proclamation and Queen's Procla- 
mation for continuing Commissions. Mr. Sheriff 
Gookin gave it to the people. Volleys. Guns. 
Went into chamber to drink." (Sewall, ii., 56.) 

June 1, 1703. " Town-meeting is held in the old 
Meeting-house because of the General Assembly; 
2 p.m. Voters two hundred and six." This entry of 
Sewall confirms our suspicion that the Legislature 
had the first claim to occupy the building. In March, 
1706-7, the records show that the town meeting was 
held in the old meeting-house. 

In 1704 Captain John Quelch and five other 
pirates were tried here, and sentenced to be hung. 
The sentence was executed June 30. Sewall gives 
us at this time the following picture : — 

" As the Governor [Dudley] sat at the Council- 
Table 'twas told him Madam Paige [his niece] was 
dead. He clap'd his hands, and quickly went out, 
and return'd not to the Chamber again; but ordered 
Mr. Secretary to prorogue the Court till the 16th of 
August, which Mr. Secretary did by going into the 
House of Deputies." (Sewall, ii., 109.) 

Sewall records on February 6, 1707-8 : — 



24 OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 

" Queen's Birthday. I could not find it in my heart 
to go to the Town-house, because hardly anything is 
professedly there done but drinking Healths." 

1708-9, January 6. " Presently after Lecture, the 
Act of Parliament regulating Coin is published by 
Beat of Drum and Sound of Trumpet." (kSewall, ii., 
248.) Undoubtedly from the balcony of the Council 
Chamber. 

March 13, 1709-10. " General Town Meeting. Mr. 
Cotton Mather went to Prayer ; I stood in the Lobby, 
then went into the Council Chamber. Constable 

came to me and surprised me with telling me 

that I was Chosen Moderator. I went in, and they 
would have me sit on the Seat, which I did." (Sewall 
ii., 275.) 

From this entry it seems that the town meetings 
were held in the Pepresentatives' Hall, which could 
well hold the citizens, as the voters only numbered 
about two hundred. Other entries make it probable 
that the Supreme Court also used that room, the 
Council Chamber serving as a consultation room 
for the judges. 

In 1711 the town was much agitated by the 
arrival of some fifteen men-of-war and seven thou- 
sand troops destined for an attack on Quebec. 
There were abundant festivities and solemn ex- 
change of courtesies between the English and our 



OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 25 

local antliorities. The ignominious failure of the ex- 
pedition was a sad blow to Massachusetts, although 
the loss of life was confined mainly to the ships of 
the British portion of the fleet. 

To add to the general depression, a great fire in 
Boston occurred " about 7 or 8 o'clock of the night, 
between the 2d and 3d of October." " It broke out 
in an old Tenement withhi a back Yaixl in Cornhill 
(i.e., our Washington street), near the First Meeting- 
house, occasioned by the carelessness of a poor 
Scottish AYoman (one Mary Morse), by using Fire 
near a parcel of Ocum, Chips, and other combustible 
Rubbish." This spot was in or near Williams' 
Court. "All the houses on both sides of Cornhill 
[Washington street] from kSchool street to what 
is called the stone-shop in Dock-square, all the 
upper part of King street [State street] on the south 
and north side, together with the Town-House, and 
what was called the Old Meeting-House above 
it, Avere consumed to ashes." (Hutchinson, ii., 
200.) 

Thus ended, after half a century's use, the first 
Town-house which has stood on this spot. Of 
course it was necessary to replace it at once; and on 
the 17th of October the Selectmen of Boston ad- 
dressed the Legislature, asking its " Advice and 
Direction foi- the Kestoring and Rebuilding of the 



26 OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 

House for those Publick Uses, and about the place 
where to set the same." 

A jomt committee of four councillors and seven 
deputies, with Elisha Hutchinson, chairman, was at 
once appointed, who recommend that a new house 
be built " in or near where the Old Town House 
stood," the " breadth not to exceed thirty-six feet, the 
length so as to be convenient." " The charge to be 
borne the one half by the Province, the other half by 
the Town of Boston and County of Suffolk in equal 
Proportion." 

Accordingly, a new committee was appointed, viz. : 
Elisha Hutchinson and Penn Townsend, councillors, 
Addington Davenport, Samuel Thaxter and Capt. 
Phipps, deputies, to attend to the affair, with two 
persons to be added by the town of Boston. The 
town assented, and joined Thomas Brattle and 
William Payne. 

March 12, 1711-12, the Legislature voted, as 
instructions to the committee, that the building be 
not more than one hundred and twelve feet nor less 
than one hundred and ten feet in length. ^STovember 
17, 1712, they voted, as instructions to the committee, 
" that they fit the East Chamber for the Use of His 
Excellency the Governor and the Honorable the 
Council, the Middle Chamber for the House, the 
West Chamber for the Superior and Inferior Courts." 



OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 27 

And '^ tliat there be but tAvo Officers below Stairs in 
the Province and Court House now Building' in 
Boston, one for the Secretary, the other for the Reg- 
ister of Deeds in the County of Suifolk." 

Although we do not know who designed the brick 
building which speedily arose on the site, we can 
to-day inspect its sturdy walls and recognise the 
influence of the Queen Anne period. It is beyond 
controversy that the fire of 1747 and the various 
changes which have been made in the building, in 
no way affected the exterior walls. We are to-day 
assembled in a building which dates back to A.D. 
171o, and we can form a correct idea of its original 
and ever continuing appearance.* 

In 1720 Daniel :N"eal printed his " Present State 
of 'New England," and thus describes the building in 
its earliest days : — 

' ' From the Head of the Peer you go u}) the chief Street of the 
Town, at the upper End of which is the Town House or Exchange ; 
a fine Piece of Building, containing besides the Walk for the 
Merchants, the Couucil Chamber, the House of Commons, and 
anotlier spacious Room for the- Sessions of the Courts of Justice, 
the Pvxehange is surrounded with Booksellers Shops, which have a 
good Trade." (Neal, p. 587.) 

In 1708 it was computed that Boston had twelve 
or thirteen thousand inhabitants ; in 1720, eighteen or 



28 OLD STATE HOUSE EE-DEDICATION. 

twenty thousand. (I*^eal, GOl.) The council con- 
sisted of twenty-eight members, the House of one 
hundred and three. (]^eal, 605.) 

During the eighteen months which were needed 
for rebuilding the Town-house, the town meetings 
were held as follows: ^ov. 1(3, 1711, in Rev. Mr. 
Colman's meeting-house in Brattle street; March, 
1712, in the same; March, 1712-13, at the south 
meeting-house, and May 13, 1713, in the new Town- 
house. Sewall records (ii., 387), May 28, 1713. 

"All the Councillors are sworn except Major 
Brown, who was not in Town. In the afternoon 
I declar'd to the Council that Prayer had been too 
much neglected formerly; we were now in a JSTew 
House, we ought to Reform; without it, I would 
not be there. Mr. Secretary assented, and I was 
desired to see it effected. May 29th. Dr. Increase 
Mather prays Excellently in the Council." 

For some years at least this custom of beginning 
a session of the council with prayer was con- 
tinued. 

It seems from Sewall's notes that there was a large 
table in the council chamber, at which the members 
sat, and that the Governor occupied the head of it. 
It is a fair inference that this table reached from the 
east window towards the door, and if so it was in 
conformity to our 'New England custom by which the 



OLD STATE HOUSE RE-UEDICATION. 29 

minister or other presiding officer is so invariably 
placed in front of a window. 

To this conncil chamber the deputies were sum- 
moned, and committees of that body were here re- 
ceived. At snch conferences the Governor was not 
allowed to take part, though on one occasion at least 
he remained in the room. There was a " closet," 
jDrobably one of the ante-rooms opening from the 
chaml^er, to which the Governor could withdraw for 
private consultation; and perhaps the other ante- 
room was needed for the accommodations of the 
twenty-eight councillors. 

It seems that in this chamber the Overseers of Har- 
vard College met at times, and once the " Inspectors 
of the Granu:nar Schools " of Boston met there. The 
chamber was also used as a consultation room for the 
judges, i^^otwithstanding the order to construct a 
west room for the courts, it is very doubtful if this 
were really done. In 1717, Sewall speaks of a trial 
held in the old meeting-house opposite, while sentence 
was pronounced in the coiu-t chamber. Was not this 
the chamber of the Great and General Court, that is, 
our House of Representatives? When the fire of 1747 
took place, mention is made of the " Council Cham- 
ber, the Chamber of the House of Representatives 
and the Apartments thereof, in that Story." Another 
account speaks of "the Council Chamber" and "both 



30 OLD STATE HOUSE EE-DEDICATION. 

the Lobbies," and also tbe " Offices kept in the Upper 
Story; " but it says "the County Records and Papers 
belonging to the Inferior Court, being deposited in an 
Office upon the lower Floor, were most of them pre- 
served." 

There is proof that the Council Chaml^er was the 
scene of festivities on state occasions, such as the 
birthday of the sovereign or his accession, the ar- 
rival of a new governor, etc. Here also were held 
public funerals, as in the case of Fitz- John Winthrop. 
From the balcony, at the east end, it was customary 
to proclaim the laws, with sound of trumpets and 
beat of drums; and doubtless from so convenient an 
elevation, loyal addresses were delivered to the 
assembled townsmen on occasion. 

As it happens, we know much less of the arrange- 
ment of the Representatives' Hall at this period, as 
our chief authority, Sewall, was a councillor and 
judge. We know that the number of deputies was 
one hundred and three in 1720; and as new toAvns 
were corporated, the number rose to about one 
hundred and twenty-five. 

The speaker was annually chosen, and the choice 
submitted to the governor, who rarely negatived. 
In 1705, Thomas Oakes; in 1720, Elisha Cook; in 
1739, Paul Dudley; in 1741, Samuel Watts; in 1766, 
James Otis, were respectively chosen and set aside. 



OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 31 

The House also elected a clerk, but the office was 
generally continued from year to year. 

The forms of the House were probably copied 
from those of Parliament, the council figuring as 
our House of Lords. The will of the Governor 
was signified by messages or speeches; the wishes 
of the deputies by committees and ])y messages. 
Hutchinson says (ii, 259), apropos of a quarrel be- 
tween Governor Dudley and the House about the 
power of adjournment, " It has always been the prac- 
tice of the house, before and since, upon a message 
from the governor, to stop all business and go up 
without delay." It seems also that divisions of the 
House were made by going to the north and south 
^ides. We infer from this that the speaker sat at 
the west end, facing the main doors, and that 
the deputies were marshalled by him on either 
hand. 

In this chamber from 1711 to 1747 presided as 
Governor, Joseph Dudley, WiUldm Taller,^ Samuel 
Shute, William Diimmer,^ Jonathan Belcher and 
AYilliam Shirley, all upright and worthy men, but all 
of them so hampered by restrictions from the home 
government, as to be frequently involved in disputes 
with the representatives of the people. During this 

' Tailer and Dumnier were Lieutenant Governors, acting in the place of 
the Governors. 



S2 OLD STATE HOUSE KE-DEDICATION. 

period the population increased steadily from eleven 
thousand in 1715 to seventeen thousand in 1744, 
though after the last date it remained stationary or 
slightly decreased. 

In J^ovember, 1747, the Town-house was the 
centre of another uprising. Commodore Knowles 
was in command of a fleet lying ofii" the harbor. 
Having lost some deserters, he sent a press-gang iuto 
the harbor, seizing sailors from the ships, and even 
landsmen from the wharves. There was at once an 
outburst of popular indignation, in which all ranks 
joined. "As soon as it was dusk, several thousand 
people assembled in King street, below the Town 
House, where the General Court was sitting. Stones 
and brick batts were thrown through the glass into* 
the Council Chamber. The Governor [Shirley], 
however, with several gentlemen of the Council and 
House, ventured into the balcony," ^ and after silence 
was obtained addressed the assemblage. He prom- 
ised to try to obtain the release of the townsmen ; but 
the ci'owd was not to be thus pacified. For three 
days the contest continued, the people having seized 
some of the ofiicers from the fleet as hostages, and 
the commodore threatening to bombard the town by 
way of reprisal. Finally the Legislature interposed 
with promises to both sides ; the impressed men were 

' Hutchinson, ii., 432. 



OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. ' 33 

liberated, and the squadron sailed, to the great relief 
of all in authority. 

On Wednesday, December 9, 174^7, the Town- 
house was greatly injured by a -fire. The following 
extract from the newspapers w^ill explain the extent 
of the loss : — 

" Yesterda}^ morning between 6 & 7 o'clock we were exceedingly 
surprised by a most terrible Fire, which broke out at the Court 
House in this Town, whereby that spacious and l)e;intiful Building 
except the l)are outward Walls, was entirely destroyed. As the 
Fire began in the middle or second Story, the Records, Books, 
Papers, Furniture, Pictures of the Kings and (Queens, &c., which 
were in the Council Chamber, the Chamber of the House of Repre- 
sentatives, and the Apartments thereof, in that Story, were con- 
sumed ; as were nlso the Books and PajUM's in the Offices of the 
upper Story: Those in the Offices below were mostly saved. In 
the Cellars which were hired by several Persons, a great quantity 
of Wines and other Liquors were lost. The publick Damage 
sustain' d b}' this sad Disaster is inexpressil)ly great and the Loss 
to some particular Persons, 'tis said will amount to several Thou- 
sand Pounds. The Vehemence o'f the Flames occasicm'd such a 
great Heat as to set the Roofs of some of the opposite Houses on 
Fire notwithstanding they had been' covered with Snow, and it was 
extinguished with much Difficult}'. How the Fire was occasion'd, 
whether by Defects in the; Chimney or Hearth as some think, is 
uncei'tnin." — Bosloti Weddi/ News Lflter, Thursdcif/, December 10, 
1747. 

The account in the .Boston Evening Post, for the; 
fourteenth of December, adds : — 

" The line rictur<'s :iud other Furniture in the Council Chamber 



34 OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 

were destroyed as were also the Books, Papers and Records in 
both the Lobbies, and those in the Offices kept in the upper Story ; 
but the County Records and Papers belonging to the Infei'iour 
Court being deposited in an Office upon the lower Floor, were 
most of them preserved." 

The same paper prints the folloAvmg extracts 
from the Jouryial of the House of Represeyitatk'es : — 

" 12 Decemher A.D. 1747. 

" Upon a motion made and seconded, 

''■ Resolved, that the House now make particular P^nquiry how 
the late Fire in the Court House was first discovered, and l)y what 
Means it was occasioned. After examining the Door-keeper and 
receiving a particular account of the Time and Circumstances of 
his leaving the House the Evening before, and enquiring of those 
Gentlemen who early discovered the Fire. 

" Resolved, That it appears to the Satisfaction of this House, that 
the late Fire which consumed the Court House, proceeded from the 
Wood-work under the Hearth taking Fire, and that the Fire first 
l)roke out in the Entry-way between the Council Chamber and the 
Representatives' Room, and from thence went up the Stair Case, 
and through the Roof, and continued until the House was con- 
sumed." 

The General Conrt was offered the nse of Faneuil 
Hall, bnt was accommodated for the few days 
remaining in the session at the Royal Exchange 
tavern kept by Lnke Yardy, on the west corner of 
Exchange and State streets. 

It seems that, as in 1711, the expense of the repairs 
was paid, one-half by the Province, one-quarter by 



OLD STATE HOUSE KE-DEDICATION. 35 

the town of Boston, and one-quarter by the towns in 
the comity of Snifolk. The expense was £3,705 
lis. 4rZ. laAvful money. Whatever phnis were made 
for this restoration, it would seem that the exterior 
walls at least were not touched. 

Fortunately, as in deal's case, in 1720, we have 
a description of the new building from one who 
saw it in its freshness. Capt. Francis Goelet (whose 
journal is printed in the ]^.E. Historical and Genea- 
logical Register for 1870, p. 72) thus describes it 
in the autumn of 1750: — 

"They have also a Town House, l)uilt of Brick, situated in 
King's street. It's a ver}' Grand Brick Building, Arch'd all 
Round, and Two Storie Heigh, Sash'd above ; its Lower Part is 
always Open, design'd as a Change, the' the Merchants in Fair 
Weather make their Change in the open Street at the Eastermost 
End. In the upper Story are the Council and Assembly Cham- 
bers &c. It has a neat Capulo, sash'd all I'ound, and which on 
rejoycing days is Ellumiuated." 

Capt. Goelet mentions that on October 30th, 
His Majesty's Birth-day, he " went at noon with 
Capt. AYendell to the Councill Chamber in the 
Towne House, where [he] drank the Loyall Toasts 
with the Lieutenant Governor, Councill," etc. 

By the records of the House it a])pears that 
Dec. 12, 1752, there was paid £6 13s. Id. to Moses 
Deshon "for the arms of the Colony which he has 
carved, and put up in the House of liepresentatives." 



36 OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 

By Hr' l)ill of the painter in 1773, it seems that 
the Colony arms still remained, while the King's 
arms, also then paid for, were probably in the 
Couneil Chamber. The historie Codfish was also 
mentioned, and vai-ious pietnres, of which the only 
one named is that of Gov. Burnet. 

Yery strangely, it ajjpears by the newspapers of 
June, 17()(), tliat a gallery Avas ])ut in the Represent- 
atives' Hall, thongh it is hai'd to imagine where 
space was found lor it. Chandeliers, of course, hung 
in each hall, and the desk of the Clerk or Speaker 
of the House is still preserved by the Massachusetts 
Historical Society.' 

When the work of the restoration was commenced 
last year, it was found that the framing of the 
timbers was such that there nnist have been a 
circular stairway in the place now occupied by it, 
from the first fioor to the lialls, and that the landings 
must have ]3resented their pi-esent form.^ 



' Altlioiigli (loscril)ed as the S2)eakor's desk, it seems almost impossible 
that it could have been so used. It may have been the clerk's desk, but the 
presiding officer would apparently require a more prominent place. 

* The balusters in the new stairway are copied from those in Gov. 
Shirley's house, still standing in Koxbury. As he was the governor at the 
date of the rebuilding, in 1747, no better exemplars could be desired. 
Similar balusters arc in the home of the Quincys. The plans made by Isaiah 
llogers in 18;?0 show the same stairway, out of centre, and the tioor beams 
explain the cause of this eccentricity. 



OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 37 

The same investigation showed tliat tlie Kepre- 
sentatives' Hall had its easterly end curved, while 
the Council Chamber was square. These indications 
coincide with a description published in 1701, when 
the halls were occupied' by the Legislature of the 
State, and when, apparently, no changes bad been 
made. The Massachusetts Magazine for August, 
1791, gives a south-west view of the building, i.e., 
one taken from tlie Washington-street end, and the 
following description is added : — 

" The State House is an elegant brick buildiug, standing at the 
head of State Street, one mile and 21)7 yards from the fortification. 
It is 110 feet in length and thirty-eigiit in hreadtlj. TIic fouiKhi- 
tions of the present walls were hud A.D. 1712, the former State 
House having been reduced to ashes in the great fire of the i)re- 
ceding year. The internal part of this building again experienced 
the desolating flame in 1747, when a vast number of ancient ])ooks 
and early reeoi'ds, togethei' witli a collection of valualilc pii])ers, 
were destroyed, and to tlie ravages of tliis calnmily we may attrib- 
ute the imperfect accounts tluit ai-e to l)e obtained of the lirst and 
second building. The ascent to the lower floor, as fronting the 
Long wharf, is by an elevated flight of large stone steps, railed 
round with neat iron l)alustrades. There are three other entrances ; 
one at tlie opposite end, facing to Cornhill, and the othci' two in 
the opposite centres of the length. The Clerks of the Snpi-eme 
Judicial Court and Court of Common Picas hold their oflices 
upon the first floor, which also serves in l)ad weather as an 
exchange for the mercantile part of the comnmnity. A rang6 
of Doric i)illars support the floors of the second story, whicli is 



38 OLD STATE HOUSE EE-DEDICATION. 

destined for the accommodatiou of the General Legislature. The 
Senate Chamber is thirty-two feet square and fifteen feet in 
height, furnished with a convenient lobby for committees to 
transact l)usiness in. The Representatives' Chamber is fifty-seven 
and a half feet in length,' thirty-two in breadth, and the same 
height as the former, with a well-constructed lobby. The third 
or upper story^ is improved by difl["erent committees during the 
session, and has an East, West and South lobby ; beside several 
apartments for publick papers and records. On the centre of the 
roof is a tower, consisting of three stories, finished according to 
the Tuscan, Dorick and lonick orders complete, and from thence 
is a fine prospect of the Harbor and adjacent Country," 

The painter's bill of 1773 also mentions the Lion 
and the Unicorn which crowned the east end of the 
exterior, the carved corner-pieces on the west front, 
the balcony and pediment in front at the main 
window of the Council Chamber, and the steps, 
which, for a time, reached from the first floor down 
State street. 

These featm^es have all been reproduced in the 
restored building. It was, indeed, a question whether 

' This figure, fifty-seyen and one half feet, is an impossibility, being more 
than one-half the length of the building. But thirty-seven and one-half 
feet would reach exactly to the line of the curved end of the hall as shown 
on Rogers' plans and now reconstructed. Evidently the writer put his notes 
of the measurements in figures, and either he or his printer mistook thirty- 
seven and one-half for fifty-seven and one-half. The error really confirms 
the exactness of the record. 

^ These steps figure in the quaint picture dated about 1810, now owned 
by the Historical Society, but they were removed before the view in Hales' 
Survey was taken. 



OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 39 

or not to restore the Royal arms upon the east end, 
but a feature so distinctive, architecturally, could not 
be well omitted. Happily, no one will to-day misun- 
derstand the feeling* with which we replace this me- 
mento of our colonial days, — a recognition merely of 
the facts of history, neither forgetful of the protec- 
tion Avhich the mothe** country once extended, nor 
boastful of the change which has given us a national 
coat-of-arms, a. national flag, and a supreme govern- 
ment, at least equal to those which we renounced a 
century ago. 

Having thus considered the history of the walls of 
this building, let us review the scenes which took 
place therein. During the administration of Shirley 
(1741-1757), and of Pownall (1757-17(30), the 
colony was undoubtedly loyal. The great expendi- 
tures made by England to carry out the favorite wish 
of the colonists by the ovei'throw of the French 
power in America, had not only pleased but enriched 
the sea-board colonies. Many of our citizens served 
with credit in the various armies which attacked 
Canada, many others had served in the navy or the 
transport service, and Boston especially had become 
accustomed to the presence of English troops and 
Crown officials. Shuley had identifled himself with 
the colony, had built a house here and reared a 
family amid Bostonian surroundings. His ardor in 



40 OLD STATE HOUSE EE-DEDICATION. 

military affairs led him to be less strenuous in smaller 
civil matters, and he had acquiesced in such encroach- 
ments by the Legislature as restrained the power of 
the Crown or the influence of the governor. 

Pownall's short rule of three years was noteworthy 
mainly for its military record. 

In August, 1760, Francis Bernard arrived here to 
succeed Pownall, and five months later, news was 
received of the accession of George III. With the 
new king and the new governor begins the closing 
chapter of our colonial history. This is not the 
time to attempt to describe the causes which led to 
the Kevolution, except in so for as any important 
events took place in this building. Here, under this 
roof, indeed, were encamped the hostile forces of the 
civil government. In this room the Royal Governor 
and his generally subservient Council could listen to 
the applause which gi-eeted the impassioned elo- 
quence of the popular leaders of the Representatives 
in the adjoining hall, as they gradually developed 
the ideas of " no represention, no taxation," and " no 
representation, no legislation," as Hutchinson scorn- 
fully termed them (Hist., iii., 164). How often must 
these lobbies and entries have been thronged by the 
citizens of Boston, anxious to catch the latest intel- 
ligence of Royal obstinacy or of popular indigna- 
tion. In those days the press was so circumscribed 



OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 41 

in its province, that the news was only to be ob- 
tained by contact with the actors ; and here was the 
centre of all that absorbed the attention of the com- 
munity. The town meetings were held at Faneuil 
Hall/ and when more room was needed, they ad- 
journed to the Old South Church. Yet, powerful 
as was the influence of Boston, the citizens could 
only issue instructions to their representatives in the 
august body, which, in these halls, Sj)olve in the 
name of the entire colony. It will ])e necessary to 
give a few^ instances of the occurrences in these 
apartments, from the evidence of the actors therein. 
In 1761, soon after Bernard's arrival, James Otis, 
Jr., aroused the public by his famous plea against 
the Writs of Assistance. John Adams has ad- 
mirably described the scene in this hall, in a letter 
written to a friend in 1817 : — 

" The scene is the Council chamber in the old town house in 
Boston. The date is in the month of February, 17G1, nine years 
before you entered mj^ office in Cole lane. As this was five years 
before you entered college, you must have been in the second 
form of Master Lovell's school. That Council chamber was as 

' It is often forgotten that Faneuil Hall prior to A.D. 1808, was much 
smaller tlian it now is. Tlie addition of another story and an extension on 
the south side added greatly to the space. Of course these changes have 
not destroyed the identity of the building, but they are much greater than 
those made in these Memorial Halls, where only one wall has been replaced 
in each room, and those on tlie exact lines of tlie former partitions. 



42 OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 

respectable an apartment as the House of Commons or the House 
of Lords in Great Britain, in proportion, or that in the State 
House in Philadelphia, in which the Declaration of Independence 
was signed in 1776. In this chamber, round a great fire, were 
seated five judges, with Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson at their 
head as Chief Justice, all arrayed in their new, fresh, rich robes 
of scarlet English broadcloth ; in their large cambric bands and 
immense judicial wigs. In this chamber were seated at a long 
table all the barristers-at-law of Boston and of the neighboring 
county of Middlesex, in gowns, bands, and tie wigs. The}^ were 
not seated on ivory chairs, but their dress was more solemn and 
more pompous than that of the Roman Senate, when the Gauls 
broke in upon them. In the corner of the room must be placed 
as a spectator and an auditor, wit, sense, imagination, genius, 
pathos, reason, prudence, eloquence, learning and immense read- 
ing, hanging by the shoulders on two crutches, covered with a 
great cloth coat, in the person of Mr. Pratt, who had been solic- 
ited on both sides, but would engage on neither, being, as Chief 
Justice of New York, about to leave Boston forever. Two por- 
traits, at more than full length, of King Charles the Second and 
of King James the Second, in splendid golden frames, were hung 
up on the most conspicuous sides of the apartment. If my young 
eyes or old memory have not deceived me, these were as fine pict- 
ures as I ever saw ; the colors of the royal ermines and long, 
flowing robes were the most glowing, the figures the most noble 
and graceful, the features the most distinct and characteristic, far 
superior to those of the king and queen of France in the Senate 
chamber of Congress — these were worthy of the pencils of 
Rubens and Vandyke. There was no painter in England capable 
of them at that time. They had been sent over without frames in 
Governor Pownall's time, but he was no admirer of Charles or 



OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 43 

James. The pictures were stowed away in a garret, among 
rubbish, until Governor Bernard came, who had them cleaned, 
superbl}- framed, and placed in council for the admiration and 
imitation of all men — no doubt with the advice and concurrence 
of Hutchinson and all his nebula of stars and satellites. One 
circumstance more. Samuel Quincy and John Adams had been 
admitted barristers at that term. John was the j^ouugest ; he 
should be painted looking like a short, thick archbishop of 
Canterbury, seated at the table with a pen in his hand, lost in 
admiration.'" 

He then proceeds to describe the charaetei's in the 
drama, and thus, depicts the chief : — 

" Otis was a flame of fire. With a promptitude of classical 
allusions, a depth of research, a rapid summary of historical 
events and dates, a profusion of legal authorities, a prophetic 
glance of his eye into futurity, and a torrent of impetuous 
eloquence, he hurried away everything before him. American 
independence was then and there born ; the seeds of patriots and 
heroes were then and there sown, to defend the vigorous youth, 
the won si7ie diis animosus in/cms. Every man of a crowded 
audience appeared to me to go away, as I did, ready to take 
arms against writs of assistance. Then and there was the first 
scene of the first act of opposition to the arbitrary claims of Great 
Britain. Then and there the child Independence was born." 

The immediate result was a modification of the 
form of the writs; but the greater consequence was 
the prominence of Otis, and the attention called to 

' Adams' Life and Works, Vol. X., p. 245. 



44 OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 

the oppressive character of the Enghsh revenue laws 
when apphecl to this country. 

A kill succeeded in the jDolitical atmosphere for 
the next two years, and the news of the peace Avith 
France, received here in May, 1763, was joyfully 
welcomed. Soon, however, the clouds gathered, 
indicative of the coming storm. The vast expense 
of the war rendered new taxes inevitable ; unfor- 
tunately, the consideration of the renewal of a tax 
which had just expired, — one on the importation 
of molasses into the colonies, — led the Grenville 
ministry to determine "to raise by a stamp duty, 
or in some other way, a sum from America, sufficient 
to ease government in part from the future charges 
which might be necessary there." (Hutchinson, iii., 
109.) 

In April, 1765, news was received of the passage 
of the act, and popular opposition was at once 
excited. On the birthday of the Prince of Wales, 
August 12, it was concerted to hang the appointed 
distributor of stamps in effigy. This was done two 
days later, the image being suspended from the 
Liberty Tree, which stood on the corner of Essex 
and Washington streets. The Council was hastily 
assembled, but prudently advised that nothing be 
done, hoping that the matter would end there. 



OLD STATE HOUSE KE-DEDIOATION. 45 

" Before night the image was taken down, and carried through 
the Town House, in the chamber whereof the GJoveruor and 
Council were sitting. Forty or fifty tradesmen, decently dressed, 
preceded ; and some thousands of the mob followed down King 
street to Oliver's dock, near which IMr. Oliver had latel}' erected 
a building, which, it was conjectured, he designed for a stamp 
office. This was laid flat to the ground in a few mhiutes. From 
thence the mob proceeded for Fort Hill, but Mr. Oliver's house 
being in the way, they endeavored to force themselves into it, and 
being opposed, broke the windows, beat down the doors, entered, 
and destroyed part of his furniture, and continued in riot until 
midnight before they separated." (Hutchinson, iii., 121.) 

On the evening of August 26 a mol3 collected in 
King street, " drawn there by a bonfire, and Avell 
supplied with strong drink." They plundered the 
cellars of the comptroller of customs, and then 
marched to the house of Thomas Hutchinson, in Gar- 
den court, near Fleet street, where, all night long, 
undisturbed by the frightened neighborhood, the work 
of destruction went on. These inexcusable outrages 
were promptly disavowed in toAvn meeting, and most 
probably were the work of those turbulent and law- 
less men who always appear Avhenever authority is 
suspended, to dishonor and injure the cause they 
nominally support. 

When the Legislature met, on October 24, 1765, 
Boston was represented by a new member, — Samuel 
Adams, — then first the recipient of high office, but 



46 OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 

already a leader among the advocates of independ- 
ence. Otis was in ^ew York, attending a conven- 
tion of delegates from the various colonies, which 
had been convoked by royal authority. The differ- 
ence in the political views of these leaders was 
marked, though it did not prevent their unison in 
many points. Otis believed that Parliament was su- 
preme, but that the Colonies were entitled to rej^re- 
sentation therein. Adams "i)rofessed principles, 
which he owned without reserve in private discourse, 
to be independency; and, from time to time, he made 
advances towards it in publick, as far as would serve 
the great purpose of attaining to it. To his influence 
may be attributed the great advance made in this 
session." (Hutchinson, iii., V34:.) On the 29th of 
October, in the adjoining hall, the House passed the 
famous Resolves, prepared by Samuel Adams, one of 
which declares, " That all acts made by any power 
whatever, other than the General Assembly of this 
Province, imposing taxes on the inhabitants, are 
infringements of our inherent and unalienable rights 
as men and British subjects, and render void the 
most valuable declarations of our charter." 

To be sure, this was coupled with a declaration of 
loyalty to the Crown and to Parliament; but the first 
resolve contained a political truth, and the last a 
politic profession. 



OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 47 

On May 16, 176G, the news of the i-epeal of the 
Stamp Act was received here, and caused universal 
rejoicing-. In September the Rockingham-Shelburne 
ministry came into power, and Avas beheved to be 
friendly to the Colonies. The governor here had 
several disputes with the legislature, the Council dis- 
played unusual independence, and tlie influence of 
Adams, now promoted to the office of Clerk of the 
House,^ was steadily on the increase. The same state 
of affairs characterized the whole of the following 
year, 17(57, until, in the autumn, news was received 
of the passage of an act levying "small duties on 
paper, glass, and painters' colors, imported into 
America; to take off 12d., which had been charged 
in Englaiid on every pound of tea exported, and to 
lay 3d. only, payable upon its importation into 
America." (Hutchinson, iii., 179.) Commissioners 
were appointed to enforce the customs' laws, and an 
act was passed legalizing the writs of assistance, 
under which search was made for smuggled goods. 

In February, 1768, the House passed a bill order- 
ing letters to be written to the other colonies, " with 
respect to the importance of joining with them in 
petitioning his majesty at this time." This was 

' "The office having some emolument, it had generally been filled by one 
of the members, who took the same share in debating and voting as if 
he had not been clerk, and rather acquired than lost influence by being so." 
(Hutchinson, iii., 148.) 



48 OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 

Adams' measure, — a potent weapon in the coming 
conflict. Another resolve was, "that this House will, 
by all prudent means, endeavor to discountenance 
the use of foreign superfluities, and to encourage the 
manufactures of this Province." 

The English government demanded the rescinding 
the vote authorizing the Circular Letter, but the 
House, by a vote of 92 to 17, refused obedience. 
" The galleries were cleared, and all communication 
with the other Board or from the outside, was shut 
oflP during the debate." (Life of S. Adams, i., iii.) 
Even a committee of the Council, with certain reso- 
lutions of that branch, was refused admittance. 

The House was prorogued the same day, and 
dissolved the next day, but not till it had passed an 
address to the King asking for the removal of Gov- 
ernor Bernard. 

An ill-advised measure at this time added to the 
popular discontent. Owing to Bernard's representa- 
tions, it had been decided that one or two regiments 
should be sent from Halifax to Boston. On hearing 
of the riots here, the government in England ordered 
two more regiments from Ireland. The news of the 
first order was received in Boston about the begin- 
ning of September, 1768, and, as the Legislature was 
not expected to meet for a year, the town-meeting of 
Boston took action. On learning from the governor 



OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 49 

that the troops were soon to arrive, — one reghnent 
for the Castle and two for the town, — the meeting- 
voted to hold a convention on September 22, of 
delegates from all the other towns, " in order that 
such measures may be concerted and advised, as his 
majesty's service and the peace and safety of his 
subjects in the province may require." x\s Hutchin- 
son says (Hist., iii., 205), '^it must be allowed by all, 
that the proceedings of this meeting had a greater 
tendency towards a revolution in government than 
any preceding measured in any of the colonies. The 
inhabitants of one town alone took upon them to 
convene an assembly from all the towns, that, in 
everything but in name, would l)e a House of Repre- 
sentatives." A most just comment; and let us 
to-day be proud of the fact that the town thus 
assuming the lead was Boston. Although the result 
of the meeting, which was duly held at Faneuil Hall, 
was not as tangible as was hoped, it showed the 
colonists how to proceed towards a rebellion whilst 
preserving the forms of law. The convention ad- 
journed September 29, the day after the fleet and 
soldiers reached ^antasket. The troops, amounting 
to one thousand men, under Lieutenant-Colonel Dal- 
lymjjle, landed without opposition. One regiment 
pitched their tents on the Common; the others 
were inarched to Faneuil Hall, and, alter some dis- 



50 OLD STATE HOUSE KE-DEDICATION. 

]:nite, were sheltered there for one night. " The next 
day, Gov. Bernard ordered the doors of the Town 
House to be opened, excej^t that of the Conncil 
Chamber; and such part were lodged there as Fan- 
eui] Hall rooms would not accommodate. The rep- 
resentatives' room was filled, in common with the 
rest." (Hutchinson, iii., 212.) 

Gen. Gage was summoned from ISTew York, and 
the Council attempted to find a way to satisfy both 
sides. The result was that houses were hired for the 
troops, but in the immediate vicinity of the Town 
House. The quartering of troops at this spot was 
felt keenly by the province. The next town meeting 
demanded of Gen. Mackay, then in command, the 
removal of the troops on election day. He replied 
that he could not do this, but would confine them to 
their barracks. When the Legislature met, in May, 
1769, its first work, after organizing, was to resolve 
that, "an armament by sea and land investing the 
metropolis, and a military guard, with cannon pointed 
at the very door of the State House, where this As- 
sembly is held, is inconsistent with that dignity, as 
well as that freedom, with which we have a right to 
deliberate, consult, and determine." They added 
that they expected the governor to order the removal 
of these forces during the session of the Assembly. 
As they refused to transact business while the troops 



OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 51 

remained, and as the governor would not consent, he 
adjourned the Legislature to Cambridge. Finally, 
two regiments were sent back to Halifax, the 14th 
and 29th remaining here. Bernard was recalled, and 
sailed on July 31, 1769, amid demonstrations of 
popular joy. By his departure the duties devolved 
upon Thomas Hutchinson, the lieutenant-governor, a 
native of Boston, a man of fortune and eminent abili- 
ties, but already distasteful to his fellow-citizens as 
the ablest defender of the royalist views iii the col- 
ony. He came to the command in times which were 
daily becoming more turljulent, and, having persist- 
ently taken the part of the Crown, he has justl}^ for- 
feited all claims to the respect of the descendants of 
the rebels. 

During the autumn of 1769 the bitter feeling 
between the colonists and the loyalists rapidly 
increased. James Otis was dangerously wounded 
in an affray with a Crown officer in the British 
Coifee House, which stood on State street, at the 
present !N^o. 66. It is probable that the violence 
he then received completed the overthrow of his 
intellect, and, thenceforAvard, he ceased to lead in 
public affiiirs. On the 22d of February, 1770, a 
local I'iot led to the shooting, by one Kichardson, 
of a boy named Christopher Snyder, the first victim 
to the evil passions excited by the state of affairs. 



52 OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 

The merchants of the town had been nearly 
unanimous in giving effect to the popular wish to 
prevent the importation of Enghsh goods, although 
the taxes had been taken otf of all imports except 
tea. Early in 1770, however, a new turn was given 
to popular thought, by what is known as the State 
Street Massacre. From these windows we overlook 
the scene of this famous event, but it has been too 
often described to need more than the briefest 
reference- A fight between the soldiers and the 
workmen at Gray's ropewalk, on March 2, 1770, 
had raised a resentment in the minds of the troops, 
which led to fatal results. On Monday evening, 
March 5th, the soldiers began to show signs of 
insubordination. In and around their barracks, in 
Dock Square, they assailed the passers-by with 
threats and blows. The boys of the town rang 
the bell in the First Church, and the citizens began 
to throng towards the Town House. A large 
crowd gathered in Dock square, for, in those days, 
a few minutes' walk would bring every householder 
to the centre of the town. Here a leader, pre- 
sumably William Molineaux, advised the people to 
disperse — a counsel followed by part, while others 
started for State street. The Custom House stood 
at the corner of State and Exchange streets, and 
there a sentinel Avas posted. A crowd of boys 



OLD STATE HOUSE EE-DEDTCATION. 53 

assaulted him with snowballs, iiiitil a messenger 
was sent hastily to the guard-house near by. Some 
seven or eight men, under Capt. Preston, at once 
rushed to the relief of the guard, loaded quickly, 
and stood at bay. The niol3 pressed upon them, 
striking their muskets, and otherwise insulting 
them, being evidently of the belief that the soldiers 
would not fire. The order was given to present 
arms, and then to fire, though it was never dis- 
covered who gave the fatal word. A rambling fire 
by the guard, at these close quarters, killed three 
persons and wounded eight others. 

At once the partisans of each side rushed to the 
spot. The soldiers were drawn up in order of 
battle, but remained under the control of their 
oflacers. _ The bells of the churches aroused the 
alarmed inhabitants, who thronged the street to 
gaze upon the blood-stained snow, which testified 
to the awful tragedy. A few hastened to summon 
Gov. Hutchinson, who, " to satisfy the people, called 
for Captain Preston, and inquired why he fired 
upon the inhabitants without the direction of a 
civil magistrate. The noise was so great that his 
answer could not be understood, and some, who 
were apprehensive of the lieutenant-governor's dan- 
ger from the general confusion, called out, ■ The 
Town House! the Town House! ' and, with ii're- 



54 . OLD STxiTE HOUSE RE-DEDICx\TION. 

sistible violence, he was forced up by the crowd 
into the Council Chamber. There, demand was 
immediately made of him to order the troops to 
withdraw from the Town House to their barracks. 
He refused to comply, and, calling from the bal- 
cony, to the great body of people Avhich remained 
in the street, he expressed his great concern at the 
unhappy event, assured them he would do every- 
thing in his power in order to a full and impartial 
inquir}^, that the law might have its course, and 
advised them to go peaceably to their several 
homes. Upon this there was a cry, ^ Home ! home ! ' 
and a great part separated and went home." — 
(Hutchinson, iii., 273.) 

Captain Preston and the soldiers implicated sur- 
rendered themselves before morning, and were com- 
mitted to prison. This was not sufficient to satisfy 
the people, and a town meeting was held in Faneuil 
Hall. The selectmen had already waited upon 
Hutchinson, in this chamber, to demand the removal 
of the troops from the town. He repeated that he 
had not the power, but summoned Colonels Dal- 
rymple and Can* to confer with the Council. 

When the selectmen reached the meeting Samuel 
Adams addressed it. A committee of fifteen, headed 
by Adams, proceeded to the Council Chamber to 
repeat the demand for the removal of the troops. 



OLD STATE HOUSE "RE-DEDICATION. 5d 

The committee presented its message and withdreAV 
into another room to wait for an answer. Dah-ymple 
consented to withdraw the 29th Regiment to the 
Castle, and the Council adjourned till the afternoon, 
in hopes that the concession would prove enough. 

At three o'clock the town-meeting reassembled, 
but adjourned to the Old South Church to accommo- 
date the increasing crowds. " The committee, led 
by Samuel Adams, his head bared in reverence to 
the occasion, and his gray locks flowing in the wind, 
issued from the Council chaml^er." Through a 
crowd reaching to the church the committee silently 
passed, and, in the presence of three thousand eager 
listeners, the proposal of the royal governor was 
announced. It was at once voted to be insufficient, 
and a new committee, with the same leader, was 
appointed to make a final demand. 

John Adams has eloquently described the scene ^ 
in the following words : — 

"Now for the picture. The theatre and the scenery are the 
same with tliose at the dis(nission of writs of assistance,. The 
same glorious portraits of King Charles IT. and King James II., 
to which might be added, and should be added, little miserable 
likenesses of Governor AVinthrop, Governor Bradstreet, Governor 
Kndicott, and Governor Belcher, hung up in oliscure corners of the 
room. Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson, Connnander-in-C'hief in 

•Adams' Life and Works, VoL X., p. 249. 



5(3 OLD STATE H0l5SE EE-DEDICATION. 

the absence of the governor, must be placed at the head of the 
council table. Lieutenant-Colonel Dalrymple, Commander-in-Chief 
of His Majesty's military forces, taking rank of all His Majesty's 
counsellors, must be seated by the side of the Lieutenant-Governor 
and Commander-in-Chief of the province. Eight and twenty 
counsellors must be painted, all seated at the council board. Let 
me see — what costume ? What was the fashion of that day in the 
month of March? Large white wigs, English scarlet cloth cloaks, 
some of them with gold-laced hats not on their heads, indeed, in so 
august a presence, but on the table before them, or under the table 
beneath them. Before these illustrious personages appeared 
Samuel Adams, a member of the House of Representatives, and 
their clerks, now at the head of the committee of the great 
assembly at the Old South Church." 

" Such was the situation of affairs when Samuel Adams was 
reasoning with Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson and Lieutenant- 
Colonel Dalrymple. He had fairly driven them from all their out- 
works, breastworks, and intrenchments to their citadel. There 
they paused and considered and deliberated. The heads of 
Hutchinson and Dalrymple were laid together in whispers for a 
long time ; wdien the whispering ceased a long and solemn pause 
ensued, extremely painful to an impatient, expecting audience. 
Hutchinson, in time, broke silence. He had consulted with 
Colonel Dahymple, and the colonel had authorized him to say 
that he might order one regiment down to the Castle, if that would 
satisfy the people. With a self -recollection, a self-possession, a 
self-command, a presence of mind that was admired by every man 
present, Samuel Adams arose with an air of dignity and majesty, 
of which he was sometimes capa])le, stretched forth his arm, 
though even then quivering with palsy, and with an harmonious 
voice and decisive tone said, ' If the Lieutenant-Governor or 



OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 57 

Colouel Dalrymple, or both together, have Jinthority to remove 
one regiment, the}'^ have authority to remove two, and nothing 
short of tlie total evacuation of the town l)y all the regular trooi)s 
will satisfy the puhlic mind or preserve the peace of the province.' 
These few w'ords thrilled the veins of every man in the audience, 
and produced the great result. After a little awkward hesitation 
it was agreed that the town should be evacuated and both regi- 
ments sent to the Castle." 

Hutchinson's own account of the atfair agrees 
substantially with this, though throwing the respon- 
sibility upon Col. Dalrymple. On March 10 and 
11 the two regiments were removed to the Castle. 

Surely such an event as this must render this hall 
forever memorable. Whatever else had been done, 
at other times and places, here was taken the first 
open step toward successful rebellion. A govern- 
ment which removes its military force from a fort, 
a town, or a province, at the demand of its subjects, 
can hope to regain its ascendancy in the future only 
by the display of an irresistible armament in the 
same place. Hutchinson, who well understood the 
position, wrote to a friend, in March, 1770: "The 
body of the people are all of a mind, and there is 
no stemming the torrent. It is the common lan- 
guage of Adams and the rest, that they ai-e not 
to be intimidated by acts of Parliament, for they 
will not be executed here. . . . We are most 



^S . OLD STATE HOUSP: RE-DEDICATION. 

certainly every da}^ confirming ourselves in our 

principles of independence ; and tells me he 

is fully convinced that nothing but sharp external 
force will bring Boston into a state of due subordi- 
nation." (Life of S. Adams, i., 335.) 

The legislature was convened in March, 1770, 
at Cambridge, despite their protest that the writs 
specified that the meeting was " to be held at the 
Town House in Boston." Samuel Adams, John 
Adams, John Hancock, and Joseph Hawley, were 
the leaders in the House, ably assisted by James 
Bowdoin in the Council. 

In October the trial of Caj^t. Preston and his 
soldiers was held in this hall, John Adams and 
Josiah Quincy, Jr., acting as their counsel, and 
Preston was fully acquitted. Two of the soldiei-s 
were convicted of manslaughter. 

" The trials were far from satisfactory to the prose- 
cutors ; and, in a short time, a great part of the 
people were induced to believe the acquittals unjust 
and contrary to evidence ; and the killing of the men 
was declared to be a horrid massacre, with the same 
freedom as if the jury had found those concerned in 
it guilty of murder. A few days after the trial, 
while the Court continued to sit, an incendiary paper 
was posted up, in the night, upon the door of the 
Town House, complaining of the Court for cheating 



OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATlOX. 59 

the injured people with a show of justice, and calling 
upon them to rise and free the world from sueli 
domestick tyrants." (Hutchinson, iii., )^W.) 

The removal of the ti-ain-l)and from the Castle 
and its delivery to the royal forces, was another 
ground of offence to the colonists. 

In March, 1771, Hutchinson's commission as 
governor arrived, and he met the legislature at 
Cambridge as before. In the preceding year he had 
vetoed the election of eleven of his Council, as they 
were of the popular side. In this year he accepted 
them all, except John Hancock and Jerathmeel 
BoAvers. The reported disagreement between Han- 
cock and Adams, and the fact that the latter was 
opposed in his election in May, 1772, by two hundred 
and eighteen votes in seven hundred and tAventy- 
three at the Boston meeting, prol^ably influenced the 
governor to allow the legislature, in 1772, to return 
to its old apartments in this building. 

As I confine myself to what was done here, I pass 
ovei' the various ev^ents which tended to hasten the 
final rupture. But it was in the adjoining hall, after 
ordering the galleries to be cleared, that Samuel 
Adams produced those confidential letters of Hutch- 
inson to his English friends, which convinced the 
public that there was no safety for any of the 
opponents of the government. 



(50 Ohl) STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 

In 1773 it ])ec'{ime known that the experiment was 
to be made of shipping tea to this eoimtiy and of 
collecting the duty upon it. 

On ISrovem])er 28, 1773, the tea arrived, and, as 
Hutchinson hitterly remarks, "while the governor 
and Council were sitting on the Monday in the CJoun- 
cil chamber, and known to be consulting upon means 
for preserving the peace of the town, sieveral thou- 
sands, inhal)itants of Boston and other towns, were 
assembled in a publick meeting-house, at a small 
distance, in direct opposition and defiance." We all 
know the I'csult: that, after exhausting all peaceable 
means for the return of the "detested herb," a body 
of patriots, illegally l^ut I'ightly, took the responsi- 
bility of consigning three hundred and forty-two 
chests of tea to the waves of Boston Harbor. " This 
was the boldest stroke which had yet been struck in 
America. . . . Their leaders feared no consequences. 
. . . They had gone too far to recede. If the colo- 
nies were subject to the supreme authority and laws 
of Great Britain, their offences long since had been 
of the highest nature. . , . And it is certain that, 
ever after this time, an opinion was easily instilled, 
and was constantly increasing, that the body of the 
people had also gone too far to recede, and that an 
open and general revolt must be the consequence; 
and it was not long before actual preparations were 



OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 61 

visibly making for it in most ])arts of the ])i-ovince." 
(Hntchinson, iii., 439.) 

Of conrse this proceeding could not be ignored hy 
Parhament, and, in March, 1774, the Boston Port 
Bill, closing the j^ort during the pleasure of the King, 
was passed, with other acts taking all the power 
from the people or their representatives, and giving 
it to the Crown. Pei'sous accused of rioting could 
be sent to England for trial, and sjjccial orders were 
given for the arrest of Samuel Adams and other 
leaders. 

On May 17, 1774, Thomas Gage, the commander- 
in-chief of all the trooj)S in this country, ari'ived-in 
Boston, commissioned as Governor of the province. 
Landing at Long Wharf, he was escorted up State 
street by the Boston Cadets, under the command of 
Hancock. In this hall he was duly sworn into office, 
and from the balcony the usual proclamation was made. 

The last session of the legislature held under the 
royal government was at Salem, on June 7, 1774. It 
was dissolved on the 17th, after it had provided for 
the appointment of James Bowdoin, Thomas Gush- 
ing, Samuel Adams, John Adams, and Robert Treat 
Paine, as delegates to the Congress to be held at 
Philadelphia. Thenceforward the old government 
was extinct. In the following year a Provincial 
Congress, elected by the people, assembled at Water- 



62 OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 

town, to exercise powers acknowledged by all the 
citizens of the new State. In Boston, the royal gov- 
ernor, with his select board of thirty counsellors, 
appointed by himself, kept up for a while the farce of 
civic government. The trne authority was in his 
hands as commanding the troops, and his official 
residence was at the Province House, opposite the 
head of Milk street. 

Hardly anything is on record in regard to the 
Town House during the siege. It is stated that it 
was used as a barracks ; certainly, after the evacua- 
tion of the town, no complaint was made of any 
injury done to it by the troops. On the 19th of 
April, 1775, the battle of Lexington was fought; on 
the 17th of June following, the battle of Bunker Hill. 
On the 10th October, 1775, Gage was recalled to 
England, and, during his absence. Gen. Howe com- 
manded on the sea-board, and Gen. Carleton in 
Canada. On the 17th of March, 1776, the British 
troops evacuated the town; and, on the 20th, the 
main body of the American army inarched in. 

On the 29th of Mai'ch, the citizens of Boston 
held a regular meeting for the election of town 
officers, in the Old Brick Church, Faneuil Hall 
having been fitted up as a theatre by the British 
officers. 

On the 18th of July, 1776, the Declaration of 



OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 63 

Independence " was made pnl^lic, with great parade 
and exnltation, from the balcony on the east end." 

The State government, which consisted of the 
legishitnre without a governor, still remained at 
Watertown. The session for 1776 begun May 29, 
and continued, by one prorogation and one adjourn- 
ment, nntil the 12th of ISTovember, when it was 
transferred to Boston. The " Boston Gazette " of 
November 4:, announces its own removal from 
Watertown to the printing-office oj^posite the Court 
House, in Queen street, and in its next issue, 
Monday, I^ovember 11, states, " Saturday last, the 
General Assembly of this State adjourn'd from 
Watertown, to meet at the State House in this 
Town, Tomorrow, at Ten o'clock." 

The various State officials also returned to this 
building, which continued in use as the State 
House, for nearly twenty years. In 1780 the State 
Constitution was adopted, and John Hancock, the 
first governor of the State, was installed here, to 
the great delight of his fellow-townsmen. James 
Bowdoin, Samuel Adams, and Increase Sumner, 
succeeded Hancock, and presided in this chamber. 

In 1782 a great reception was given in the 
Council Chamber to the French fleet and army, 
then returning to Europe. 

On the 23d of April, 1783, tlie Proclamation of 



64 OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 

Peace was received here, " and the sheriff of the 
County of Suffolk, Joseph Henderson, Esq., an- 
nounced the same from the l)alcony of the State 
House, at one o'clock, before which a large con- 
course of the most respectable inhabitants of the 
town were assembled, who demonstrated by three 
loud huzzas, their joy upon this occasion. After 
which, thirteen cannon, from the fortresses at the 
Castle, and the same number at Fort Hill, were 
fired." 

In October, 1789, Washington visited Boston, 
and reviewed the procession in his honor from a 
balcony erected from the centre window of the 
Representatives' Hall. 

Finally, the project of a new State House was 
agitated, and the corner-stone thereof was laid 
July 4, 1795, with Masonic honors. It was first 
occupied by the Legislature on the 11th of Jan- 
uary, 1798, when that august body marched in 
procession from the Old State House to the ^ew. 

By the deed which now is exhibited on these 
walls, the State transferred its ownership in half 
of the building to the town of Boston in 1803. 

After the legislature had departed, the Town 
House fell upon evil days. The town-meetings 
were held in the enlarged Faneuil Hall, with which 
we are familiar. The courts were transferred to 



< 



OLD STATE HOUSE KE-DEDICATION. 65 

Avbat Avas called the Old Court House, a three- 
storv briek building" on Court street, occupying 
tlie site of the oldest jail, and now covered by the 
east end of the Court House. Various uses were 
made of the rooms; the lower part became stores, 
a post-office, or an exchange, whilst the various 
lodges of Freemasons occupied the upper tloor. 
A newspaper, " The Repositoiy," was printed in 
this room, in 1805. The exterior was little altered 
save by the removal of the stairs at the east end, 
and of the Lion and Unicorn from their places. 
The Town Pump seems also to have become prom- 
inent at this time. 

In 1830, the city, which had for some seven 
years conducted its municipal affairs very incon- 
veniently at Faneuil Hall, awoke to the possibility 
of utilizing this building as a City Hall. The 
work of restoration was confided to Isaiah Rogers, 
and he entrusted part of the details to a young 
architect just beginning the series of works which 
makes the name of William Washl)urn familiar to 
us. It was a time when classical types were in 
vogue, and, therefore, the additions were patterned 
on Grecian models. Heavy wooden poi'ticos were 
added at each end, and these halls on the second 
floor were fitted to the uses of the City Council. 
In this room the Aldermen met ; in the Kepre- 



(Mj old state house re-dedication. 

sentatives' Hall the Common Council. "Around 
the cu'cular area of the stah-s," and in the third 
story, were the various city offices. This occu- 
pancy, which lasted for ten years, until 1840, is 
recollected by many of our citizens. 

The building was, for a third time, put in peril, 
when, on the 21st of November, 1832, the fire in 
a building' opposite was communicated to the roof 
of this building, but, happily, was soon arrested. 
Salmon's picture of the event is familiar to us all, 
having been engraved on the diplomas of the Fire 
Department. Surely we may say of the venerable 
tower, almost in Longfellow's words, — 

" In the market-place of Bruges, stands the belfry old and brown, 
Thrice consumed and thrice rebuilded, still it watches o'er the town." 

After the removal of the City Hall to its School- 
street site, this building Avas again abandoned to 
business purposes, and, in the hands of successive 
lessees, it rapidly deteriorated. A hideous mansard 
roof disfigured its external lines ; new pai-titions 
obliterated for the time the fair proportions of these 
halls ; signs, telegraph wires and poles in countless 
number contributed to the shameful defacement. 
So completely were the memories of the site for- 
gotten, and so arrogant were the fancied demands 
of commerce, that, in 1875, it Avas almost decided 



OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATlON. 67 

to pull down the building-. Happily better counsels 
prevailed, and, in 1881, the City Council authorized 
that work of restoration, which, on its completion, 
is to-day submitted to your consideration. 

A complete account of what has been done will 
be submitted by the City Architect. It will be 
enough to state at present, that we now behold 
substantially the same halls which echoed the elo- 
quence of Adams, Quincy, Otis, and Warren, and 
which witnessed the baffled intrigues of Hutchinson 
and Oliver, and the unsuccessful plans of Gage 
and Clinton, Howe and Burgoyne. 

When in 1830, Harrison Gray Otis, then mayor 
of the city, stood here to welcome the inauguration 
of his government, he thus addressed the Council 
in regard to this building : — 

" It exhibits no pomp of arcliitectural grandeur or refined taste, 
and has no pretensions to vie witli the magnificent structures 
of other countries or even of our own. Yet it is a goodly and 
venerable pile ; and with recent improvements is an ornament 
of the place, of whose liberty it was once the citadel. And it 
has an interest for Bostonians who enter it this day, like that 
which is felt by grown children for an ancient matron by whom 
they were reared, and whom, visiting after years of absence, 
they find in her neat, chaste, old-fashioned attire, spruced up to 
receive them, with her comforts about her, and the same kind, 
hospitable^ and excellent creature whom they left in less flourish- 
ing circumstances. But to this edifice there is not only a natural, 



68 OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 

but ' a spiritual bod}',' which is the immortal soul of Independ- 
ence. Nor is there, on the face of the earth, another building, 
however venerable for its antiquity, or stately in its magnificence, 
however decorated by columns and porticos, and cnrtoons, and 
statues nnd altars, and outshining the wealth of Ormus or of 
lud, entitled in history to more honorable mention, or whose 
spires and turrets are surrounded with more glorious halo than 
this unpretending building. 

" I refer 3'ou to the day when Independence, mature in age and 
loveliness, advanced with angelic grace from the chamber in which 
she was born into the same balcony, and hohling in her hand the 
immortal scroll on which her name and character and claims to 
her inheritance were inscribed, received from the street, filled with 
an impenetrable phalanx, and windows glittering with a l)laze of 
beauty, the heartfelt homage and electrifying peals of men, 
women, and children of the whole city. The splendor of that 
glorious vision of my childhood seems to be now present to my view, 
and the harmony of that universal concert to vibrate in my ear. 

."We, gentlemen, have now become, for a short period, occu- 
pants of this Temple of Liberty. Henceforth, for many 3'ears, 
the Cit}' Government will probably be here administered. 
May we, and those who will succeed us, appreciate the respou- 
sibleness attached to our places by the merit of our predecessors ; 
and though we cannot serve our country to the same advantage, 
may we love it with equal fidelity. And may the guardian genius 
of our l)eloved city forever delight to dwell in these renovated 
walls ! " 

After the lapse of half a- century we assemble to 
renew these pious labors, and to repeat his fervent 
prayers for their success; but the times are more 



OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 69 

propitious for us, since the present generation has 
been taught anew the necessity of ])erpetually culti- 
vating those patriotic virtues which alone can ani- 
mate a nation in times of adversity. 

Twenty years have passed since the assembled 
citizens of Boston were again aroused, from the 
balcony of this chamber, liy the eloquence of those 
speakers Avho uttered the cry, " To arms ! " 

God grant that in our day that a])peal may never 
again be made; but should the necessity arise, it must 
be made to a community which has been daily 
familiar with the lessons taught by the memories of 
these halls as well as of the " Cradle of Liberty," — 
Faneuil Hall. 

"Here the child Independence was born!" and 
what untold glories in the future that bii'th por- 
tended! The independence for which our f;itliers 
fought was freedom of thought, speech, and action in 
every land and in every generation. The chain 
which they broke was not simply that of Great 
Britain over America, but the greater fetters of 
usurped authority over the bodies and minds of 
millions in other lands. To our success is to be 
attributed whatever liberty has been achieved for the 
suffering nations of Europe, or for the long-enslaved 
victims of unwarrantable oppression in our own land. 
I had thought I had recited all the stirring events 



70 OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 

connected with this building, but I pause to add that 
it afforded a temporary shelter to William Lloyd 
Garrison as he was unwillingly rescued from the 
misguided rage of a pro-slavery mob. Let us rejoice 
that we tb-day can assert, that, among the results of 
that Independence which was first proclaimed on this 
spot, has been the purging of the Great Republic of 
the anomalous stain and reproach of domestic 
slavery. 

And, surely, if we have, at so great cost of treasure 
and l^lood, expiated our national sin, we may turn, 
with expectant gaze, to our sister nations for a simi- 
lar sacrifice. The independence which we inculcate 
demands that, wherever, under any professed form of 
law, the labor of the peasant profits only his master, 
that iniquity shall cease, — whether it be in the 
familiar case of Ireland, whose wrongs meet with so 
prompt a response in kindred bosoms here, — or of 
Russia, where the lurid torch of ^STihilism reveals 
the misery of untold millions, — or wherever else the 
wretched serf looks eagerly to the land of promise 
on this side of the Atlantic. 

Fellow-citizens, so long as we maintain the sacred 
fires upon the altars, we may claim the right to be 
especially favored by the divinity. I cannot allow 
myself to dwell upon the possibility of any future 
surrender of these walls to any purpose less appro- 



OLD STATE HOUSE HE-DEDICATION. 71 

priate than that we now celebrate. I cannot antici- 
pate any decrease in the prosperity or tlie piibUc 
spii'it of our beloyecl city. I can only predict that 
future generations, for centuries to come, will visit 
this spot and will remember ns thankfully for what 
we haye this day done. 

To you, Mr. Mayor, as the highest representatiye 
of the cit}^, I now transfer the care and custody of 
the Old State House, felicitating you upon the hon- 
orable duty, and congratulating the city that it 
deyolyes npon one so well qualified, by assiduous 
study, to appreciate the yalue of this acquisition. 

At the conclusion of ^Ir. Whitmore's address, His Honor 
Mayor Green said : — 

MAYOR GREEN'S REMARKS. 

3Ir. Chairman: — The Old State Plouse to-day 
comes back to the city, and as the chief executiye 
officer I greet the venerable structure with a warm 
and hearty welcome. After an occupation of many 
years for purposes of general business, these halls 
are now to be used for the reception and preserva- 
tion of historical objects of local interest. The com- 
mittee of which you are at the head, Mr. Alderman, 
having this matter in charge, deserve the tlianks of 
the community, for the way in whicli it has been 



7Z OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 

done. I know full well that the work has fallen 
largely on the shoulders of the Councilman who has 
given us this morning his interesting and instructive 
address, and it is through his untiring zeal as an 
antiquary that this plan has heen brought to a suc- 
cessful issue. I sympathize most warmly with him 
in the expression that the use we now give to these 
halls may be the permanent one. He has told how 
this building was erected as a town house, and 
traced its history from the earliest days to the 
present time. Its close connection with the various 
political events of our city and State makes it a 
conspicuous monument in our local annals. 

The foi'uial dedication of a public building is a 
custom of comparatively modern times. The foun- 
ders of ISTew England were too busy to indulge in 
mere formalities ; and even if they had the time, they 
were apt to look upon such observances as idle and 
frivolous. They regarded the various purposes to 
which a building was put as in themselves a sufficient 
dedication; and for this reason they avoided any 
special ceremony to emphasize its objects or uses. 
While it is true, then, that this structure was never 
formally dedicated, it is equally true that it was con- 
secrated by all that was high and noble in patriotic 
service, through the words that were spoken and the 
deeds that were inspired within its walls. 



OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 73 

The political town meeting is an outgrowth of 
ISew England life, and it has been the very cradle of 
American liberty and independence. It originated 
with the first comers and has been kept up by their 
successors till the present time. The freemen of the 
several towns came together in public meeting to dis- 
cuss and settle questions of general interest. They 
chose town officers, to whom was delegated the 
power to manage their civil as well as ecclesiastical 
affairs. It was at such gatherings that a free and 
full recognition of popular rights was first made in 
this country, and the very foundation and corner- 
stone of our present political system laid. The best 
insight of the forces that developed local self-gov- 
ernment is to be found in the action of such meet- 
ings. The causes that brought about the separation 
of the American colonies from the mother country 
were ripening during many years, but they were kept 
alive and active by these public assemblages. Bos- 
ton was the largest and most influential town on the 
continent, and was always ready to take the lead in 
public aftairs. When she spoke her voice was heard 
with no doubtful sound, and she had all IS^ew Eng- 
land for an audience. Her utterances were given 
from this building as well as from Faneuil Hall and 
the Old South Meeting-house. These three struct- 
ures are full of historical reminiscences and associa- 



74 OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 

tions, and I envy not the man who can approach 
any one of them with ordinary feehngs. Rude 
though they are in external form they represent 
in their traditions the highest form of rehgion 
and patriotism, as understood by the framers of 
our government. He lacks some of the human 
sensibilities whose heart is not thrilled, and whose 
emotions are not quickened, when he enters their 
portals. 

I do not forget the fact that this building was 
occupied by the municipal authorities during a period 
of ten years. On Sept. 17, 1830, the two hundredth 
anniversary of the settlement of Boston, the City 
Government, under the Mayoralty of Harrison Gray 
Otis, took possession of these apartments, and used 
them until March 18, 1841. It was under this roof 
that the administrations of Charles Wells, Theodore 
Lyman, Samuel T. Armstrong, and Samuel A. Eliot 
were carried on; and it was wliile Jonathan Chap- 
man was Mayor that the city ofiices were again 
removed to the City Hall, standing between Court 
square and School street. Whatever may be the fate 
of other public buildings, let us cherish the hope that 
the Old State House may stand as a connecting link 
between the provincial and national periods of our 
country's history, and that it may continually remind 
us of the unselfish devotion and hard struggles of 



OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 75 

the men who laid the foundation of our present gov- 
ernment. 

Alderman Hersey. — I recognize among our 
honored guests to-day, the face and form of him 
whose memory extends far back into the past, and 
who, I know, can give us some personal reminis- 
cences connected with this building. I allude to 
the Hon. Marshall P. Wilder. 

REMARKS OF HON. MARSHALL P. WILDER. 

I did not expect, Mr. Mayor, and Mr. Chairman, 
to be called upon here to say a single word to-day. 
At my time of life, and under this oppressive heat, 
my words must be very few. But I rejoice from the 
bottom of my heart that I am able to be here on this 
consecrated spot, and participate in the ceremony of 
the restoration of the Old State House. 

I say my words must be few; but I desire to 
tender to His Honor the Mayor, and to the City 
Government, the thanks of the Historic-Genealogi- 
cal Society, in their behalf and in my own; I desire 
to thank you for the wisdom of making the apj^ro- 
priation which has placed again, as we believe, much 
in its old style, this building of former days ; and I 
desire to thank Mr. Whitmore for his enei'getic, 
enterprising, persistent, and successful labors in bring- 



76 OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 

ing again into this form, this strnctnre, so ancient, 
and so renowned in the history of this city, because 
of the events, so graphically described by Mr. Whit- 
more and His Honor the Mayor, which transpired 
upon this spot. Here Independence drew its first 
breath. This spot, now consecrated by the restora- 
tion of this building, will perpetuate the history of 
those men, who, more than any others, led in the 
American revolution, and gave to the world the first 
great, free, and independent nation on earth. 

The work has been well accomplished, l^othing 
could be more appropriate ; and the provision made 
for it by the City Government, I am sure you will 
all say, could not have been more judiciously ex- 
pended. For I hold that next to training the spirit 
for the life eternal, there is .no obligation more 
solemn than that of perpetuating to future genera- 
tions the principles and virtues of those noble men 
who gave to the world this great republic, — principles 
and virtues upon which must ever rest the happiness 
and prosperity of all our people. 



OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 77 

This ended the formal exercises. The following letters, 
addressed to the Chairman of the Committee, Alderman 
Woolley, were not read, owing to his absence ; l)ut they are 
worthy of preservation in the history of the celebration ; — 

Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 

Executive Department, July 8, 1882. 

My dear Mr. Alderman : — I thank 3^011 for your kind invi- 
tation to the Re-dedication of the Old State House, with its 
interesting associations. I am unable to accept on account of 
engagements at the same hour, but I beg to send my kindest 
wishes for the occasion. 

Very truly yours, 

JOHN D. LONG. 
Wm. Woolley, Esq. 

Navy Yard, Boston, 
Commandant's Office, July 10, 1882. 

Dear Sir : — I have had the honor of receiving your kind 
invitation to attend at the Old State House to-morrow to partici- 
pate in the ceremonies of the Re-dedication of that ancient and 
interesting structure. I greatly regret that my health is such 
that I will not be able to attend. 

With many thanks to you, and to Mr. Whitmore, I have the 
honor to be, 

Very respectfully yours, 

O. C. BADGER, 

Commodore^ U.S.N. 
William Woolley, Esq., 

City Council, City Hall, Boston. 



RE-DEDICATION 



OLD STATE HOUSE, 



BOSTON. 



JULY llTH, 1882. 




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